Looking to beat the Florida heat? Here are 10 fun things to do indoors around the state

Sheldon Gardner, Eddie Ritz, Michele Kelley, Wade Tatangelo, Jimmy Geurts, Brandon Girod, Tom Szaroleta, Suzy Fleming Leonard, Caroline Hebert and Michelle Spitzer, St. Augustine Record
·8 min read

It’s long into the summer now, and you’re tired of the heat. You want to take a day trip but don’t want to spend the day sweating or getting sand in your ears at the beach.

If that description sounds like you, the good news is the Sunshine State has plenty of things to do that don’t involve moving around outside, including activities for people who like physical challenges.

Across the state there are indoor places to look at creatures, play arcade games and laser tag, smash things, ice skate and roller skate, jump on trampolines, drive go-karts and more.

Here’s a look at some of the air-conditioned fun the state has to offer. 

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Boomers Arcade Room, Boca Raton

3100 Airport Road, Boca Raton, 561-347-1888, boomersparks.com/boca. 

Though they do have outdoor activities, for the sake of staying out of the 90-plus-degree heat and 90% humidity, let’s focus on Boomers’ indoor fun.

Boomers Lazer Tag: Your team enters a black-light battleground armed with light phasers. Keep your head down and your eyes open, because in this game, the hunter also happens to be the hunted. A vibrating chest plate tells you when you’ve been tagged, and a computer records your keeps score. After the game, compare scores and see who the ultimate laser tag champion is.

Need to beat the heat, but have some serious fun at the same time? Boomers Arcade Room can definitely fulfill those air-conditioned wishes.
Need to beat the heat, but have some serious fun at the same time? Boomers Arcade Room can definitely fulfill those air-conditioned wishes.

Looking to find your inner warrior, or just want the feeling of stalking your friends and unleashing your laser on them? You’re in luck as Boomers Lazer Tag aims to please.

In this high-tech game of tag, everybody is it! Your team enters a black-light battleground armed with light phasers. Keep your head down and your eyes open, because in this game, the hunter also happens to be the hunted. A vibrating chest plate tells you when you’ve been tagged, and a computer records your score. After the game, compare scores and see who the ultimate Lazer Tag champion is.

In Boomers Game Room, everything from starship battle group to basketball, snowboarding, dance challenges and other fun are there for the taking. – The Palm Beach Post

Ellenton Ice, Ellenton

5309 29th St. E., Ellenton, 941-723-3663, ellentonice.com.

Spend time on the ice, even in the heat of Florida summer, at Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, featuring two NHL-sized rinks plus an indoor roller/ball hockey rink, fitness center, concessions area, birthday party rooms and pro shop.

Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, pictured here in 2015, features two NHL-sized ice rinks and other facilities.
Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex, pictured here in 2015, features two NHL-sized ice rinks and other facilities.

There are public skate sessions throughout the week, with other options including joining a hockey league or figure skating. – Wade Tatangelo, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Florida Aquarium, Tampa

701 Channelside Drive, Tampa, 813-273-4000, flaquarium.org.

One of the top aquariums in the South, the Florida Aquarium displays some 8,000 plants and animals from a range of fresh and saltwater environments, including alligators, sharks, seahorses, river otters and free-flying birds. Most of the animal habitats are indoors.

A fish swims at The Florida Aquarium.
A fish swims at The Florida Aquarium.

The Florida Wetlands Trail highlights regional life in a recreated mangrove forest, while the Journey to Madagascar takes visitors across the globe to observe a host of interesting animals – ring-tailed lemurs, hissing cockroaches and colorful chameleons. At Stingray Beach, visitors are invited to touch stingrays and sharks. – USA TODAY

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Grizzly Axes, Pensacola

6300 N. Davis Highway, Pensacola, 850-741-4700, grizzlyaxe.com.

Looking for something new to try? How about axe throwing? Grizzly Axes is the area’s first axe-throwing range and rage room. Yes, you read that right. In conjunction with being able to throw axes at a target, guests can also suit up and pick from a suite of rage packages that will let them destroy small, medium and large objects.

Owner Jeff Fischer demonstrates his ax throwing technique at Grizzly Axes on N Davis Highway in Pensacola on Monday, July 15, 2019.
Owner Jeff Fischer demonstrates his ax throwing technique at Grizzly Axes on N Davis Highway in Pensacola on Monday, July 15, 2019.

Lastly, let loose in one of the Messy Murals rooms. Anyone can play in the room and you’ll fling and sling paint to create your own artistic masterpiece.

Prices depend on what you’re looking to do. Axe throwing starts at $20 per person, rage room packages start at $20 and messy murals start at $30 per person. – Brandon Girod, Pensacola News Journal

IFly, Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa

10579 Brightman Blvd., Jacksonville, 904-712-3388, iflyworld.com. 

Skydiving sounds like a lot of fun, except for that whole stepping out of the airplane and falling thousands of feet thing. That’s not an issue at iFly, which uses four fans in a recirculating wind tunnel to create a powerful column of rising air in a flight chamber.

There are four iFly indoor skydiving centers in Florida.
There are four iFly indoor skydiving centers in Florida.

Flyers sign a waiver, take a short instruction course, don a flight suit over their clothes and fly for about 60 seconds with an instructor. Anyone over age 3 and under 260 pounds can fly. There are more than 80 iFly locations worldwide, including Jacksonville, Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

$84.99 for two flights, although cheaper rates are available on some weekdays. For information go to iflyworld.com. – Thomas Szaroleta, The Florida Times-Union

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Merritt Island

Space Commerce Way, Merritt Island, 855-433-4210, kennedyspacecenter.com. 

Planet Play opened in January 2021 at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex with three levels of immersive play experience, mainly for ages 2-12. Parents can watch from a coffee, wine and beer lounge.
Planet Play opened in January 2021 at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex with three levels of immersive play experience, mainly for ages 2-12. Parents can watch from a coffee, wine and beer lounge.

The Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, with its honest-to-goodness rockets stretching to the sky, has to be one of the coolest places in Florida.

Except when it’s 90-plus degrees outside. Then it turns into a sweltering concrete jungle.

Luckily, the Visitor Complex has plenty of cool indoor stuff, too.

Air-conditioned bus tours, 3-D Imax movies and astronaut meet-and-greets are enough to launch any space geek to nirvana and walking beneath the wonder that is Space Shuttle Atlantis is an emotional, awe-inspiring experience.

But those are just the tip of the asteroid when it comes to the Visitor Complex.

Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex, which opened in June, is dedicated to current and future space travel, said Rebecca Burgman, senior manager for public relations and communications for Delaware North at Kennedy Space Center.

The dim, cavernous attraction takes guests on a journey through current space travel into the future with space-flown rockets and capsules as well as full-scale models of equipment being tested for upcoming missions.

On the second floor, Spaceport KSC, a motion theater attraction, lets guests pick a destination: Cosmic Wonders, Daring Explorers, Red Planet or Uncharted Worlds, and blast off on their own deep space exploration adventure.

For space explorers 2-12, there’s World of Play next door, a multi-level, out-of-this-world interactive playground. Kids can race the Mars Rover, climb a tube to Mars, walk on Saturn’s rings and slide through an asteroid field on a private rocket.

Black lights give the area an other-worldly field, and space-age music adds atmosphere.

It’s fun, interactive and educational, Burgman said.

While the young space travelers play, their parental units can keep an eye on them while relaxing in the upstairs lounge with a local microbrew or a glass of wine. – Suzy Fleming Leonard, FLORIDA TODAY

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Ripley’s Believe It or Not! St. Augustine

19 San Marco Ave., St. Augustine, 904-824-1606, ripleys.com/staugustine.

If you’re feeling adventurous – and maybe a little odd, too – Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum in St. Augustine could make a great place to step out of the heat.

There are plenty of quirky and strange things to look at, such as a mummified cat and a real shrunken head, but it’s more than just a museum. There are interactive games and a dizzying tunnel.

Before you head indoors, check out the replica of Michelangelo’s David hidden behind greenery on the west side of the porch.

A wax figure exhibit of the "World's Tallest Man" at Ripley's Believe It or Not! in St. Augustine.
A wax figure exhibit of the "World's Tallest Man" at Ripley's Believe It or Not! in St. Augustine.

Ripley’s also has locations in Orlando, Panama City Beach, and beyond.

If you’re looking for more to do indoors in St. Augustine, head across the Bridge of Lions and check out Sarbez at 115 Anastasia Blvd. It’s an arcade, bar and music venue that serves up “gourmet grilled cheese.” – Sheldon Gardner, The St. Augustine Record

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Speedway Indoor Karting, Daytona Beach

2455 W. International Speedway Blvd. Suite 300, Daytona Beach, 386-400-9848, sikdaytona.com

People race around the Speedway Indoor Karting facility in Daytona Beach. SPEEDWAY INDOOR KARTING/CONTRIBUTED
People race around the Speedway Indoor Karting facility in Daytona Beach. SPEEDWAY INDOOR KARTING/CONTRIBUTED

Ever wanted to feel what it’s like to be a NASCAR driver? Well, SIK (Speedway Indoor Karting) in Daytona Beach offers you the chance to go fast right by the International Speedway.

These karts go up to 43 mph for adults and 18 mph for juniors, and safety measures include helmets, a four-point safety harness and a roll bar. Two tracks are offered at SIK: a road course with many turns and the classic oval.

For those who can’t get enough, SIK has a racing league and race packages. And if you’re not in the mood for speed, they also offer axe throwing.

For fun not in the sun, try SIK in Daytona Beach for all things fast. – Caroline Hebert, The Daytona Beach News-Journal

Splitsville Luxury Lanes, Disney Springs

1494 East Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, splitsvillelanes.com/location/orlando, 407-938-7467

Splitsville is next-level bowling. The lanes are scattered throughout this big, two-story space, which also has large television screens all over. Your party gets its own lane complete with a server who will bring you food and drinks.

This place doesn’t have your typical bowling alley food. There’s delicious sushi, pizza, burgers and drinks. Splitsville is a great place to celebrate a birthday or other celebration, and also has a location in Tampa. – Michelle Spitzer, FLORIDA TODAY

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Urban Air, Wellington

Let your kids zip around Urban Air’s indoor adventure park for a cool respite on a summer day.
Let your kids zip around Urban Air’s indoor adventure park for a cool respite on a summer day.

10560 Forest Hill Blvd., Wellington, 561-408-0809, urbanair.com/florida-wellington.

Think large-scale playground for families. This center has trampolines, but also wall climbing, dodgeball, ropes course, battle beam, tubes playground, virtual reality, and a lot more. Height requirements vary per attraction. – The Palm Beach Post

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Indoor activities in Florida: 10 things to do